Bobby Valentine's tenure as Red Sox manager is, in all likelihood, coming to an end, which is sad, because whatever faults you can find with the favorite son of Stamford, Conn., at least he's genuine. Yeah, he might be a genuine nutcase, but such candor and expression should be considered refreshing in an age of canned sound bites and constant PR wariness for saying The Wrong Thing.

This afternoon, it was WEEI's Glenn Ordway who felt the brunt of Valentine's anger, after implying that a report by the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo that Valentine showed up "late" to a recent game in Oakland might be a larger indication that he's mentally checking out as manager. That Ordway's loose paraphrase of Cafardo mangled the article's gist went unsaid, though it likely would've made little difference.

"If I was there, I'd punch you right in the mouth."

I sincerely hope Bobby Valentine finds another managing gig next season, somewhere, anywhere. Baseball is undeniably more interesting with him than without.